Back to the Beginning
by DragonMoonStone
Summary: Taker and Kane were sent to protect them, they have one but what about the other? Evil hovers everywhere, will the brothers of destruction manage to finish the trail...or will they meet their match?
1. Chapter 1

One last glance in the mirror confirmed that the make-up, hair and attitude were firmly in place and she was ready to face this, ready to face whatever remained of her family before leaving them behind her, just a distant memory.

Taking a deep breath and one last glance in the mirror to ensure the pinstriped suit was laid straight, she grabbed her bag and keys and left the apartment.

As her car sped out of the car park a large man stepped from behind the shadows of the building, watching her as he had done for many years he knew today was just the beginning.

Mary drew her car into the last remaining space and cut the engine, she wasn't aware of another pair of eyes watching from the alley. They saw a young woman, dressed beyond her years, in a suit wearing far too much make-up with her long auburn hair tied into a severe bun at the nape of her neck. The man grimaced slightly under the mask he wore, he knew they had been partly responsible for the act she now carried, and this wasn't the real Mary it was a brave front for the world to see. He continued to watch as she locked her car and headed into the start of a new life.

Mary stood in front of the imposing wooden doors which had a simple brass plaque bearing the names Messrs Thorncroft and Alcon, Solicitors. Her eyes lingered on the sign for a few seconds before pressing the intercom and announcing her presence; the wooden door emitted a buzz and Mary pushed to gain entrance. Letting the door swing shut and finding herself in a large reception.

After introducing herself to the receptionist she was told to go straight through as Mr Thorncroft was awaiting her arrival.

The office was light and airy, with a large window that faced into the open street, blinds gave the comfort of some privacy. At his initiation Mary took a seat in front of a large pine desk, which supplied ample room for all the neatly stacked papers.

Her eyes settled on Mr Thorncroft, a balding middle-aged man who appeared to have an air of authority.

"Thank you for attending this meeting at such short notice. As you are aware both your parents met a tragic end while on holiday and due to this I have to inform you as to the contents of the will and how that relates to you." He paused a moment to ensure that Mary was listening and then spoke again in a very well practiced monotone voice.

"Your parents had a very extensive estate which is why it has taken so long to draw this matter to a close, however probate has now been granted. In basis you have inherited half the estate."

Mary nodded until the final words were acknowledged in her brain.

"What do you mean half the estate? Who gets the other half?" Mary sat bolt up right, her eyes wide.

Mr Thorncroft looked slightly taken a back but recovered quickly.

"The remaining half of the estate, less a few small legacies, has been left to your sister, naturally, she is already aware of the situation."

Mary just nodded and the rest of the meeting went by in a blur, before knowing it she was back outside the building, her mind reeling.

Watching from his window, Mr Thorncroft saw Mary standing in front of the door, his head turning slightly to acknowledge the opening of a side door as two huge men entered the room.

"She took the news exactly as you said she would, Taker." Mr Thorncroft turned to look at the near 7ft, muscled and tattooed man who nodded in reply. They all turned back to watch Mary as she seemed to shake herself and walk back in the direction of her car.

Taker turned to his masked brother and nodded, then they made their way to the door.

"Thank you for all your help in the matter." Taker's deep southern drawl enveloped the room.

"You are most welcome, I hope the rest sorts itself out alright for you." And with that Taker and Kane disappeared in front of a smiling Mr Thorncroft.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Well, how did it go? How did she take it? When do we get to meet?" Emily practically jumped around the brothers. Taker looked down with his bright green eyes as he slowly answered her.

"It went to plan Emily, you know we have to take this slowly, when the time is right you will meet her, but trust me when I tell you it's going to take some time, but we will get there and it will be worth the wait." Emily listened carefully to Taker's words and nodded, she did understand that but that didn't change the fact that she wanted her sister to share the happy life that awaited her.

Taker and Kane found themselves in their study. Two large mahogany desks stood side by side, both cluttered with papers; grand book cases surrounded the walls holding large leather bound books.

"I don't think this will be as easy as we thought." Kane's full face mask moving slightly as he rasped out his thoughts, his eyes holding the only clue to his expression. He paused a few moments before continued with the thought.

"You saw the state she was in, the barriers surrounding her are the only thing you can see, it would break Emily's heart to see her how she is."

Taker nodded slightly.

"I agree, I'm going to change my approach slightly, more softly, softly until the barriers start to fall."

***

The knocking at the door was persistent, jolting Mary awake. Waiting for her eyes to focus and adjust before finding her alarm clock which flashed 3.02am.

Without thinking Mary stumbled out of bed and managed to negotiate the stairs before fumbling with her keys, eventually able to wrench the door open. No one was there. Taking a step outside she noticed a rectangular box marked with her name on it. Frowning she picked it up and had quick look up and down the street but there was nothing to see, she shrugged slightly and took the box inside, shutting the door behind her.

She put the kitchen light on and put the box on the table, ripping off the ribbon and lifting the lid. Mary staggered back as the white smoke started rising from the box, unable to see inside she took a step forward, wafting the smoke aside where she saw a framed picture of her sister, the smoke kept pouring out and Mary couldn't cope, she'd inhaled too much as she tried to move away but her legs felt like lead, her head was spinning and finally her eyes close and she collapsed on the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

"Emily, is that you?" Mary's groggy voice filled the room, she could see her sister! She was alive but Mary's head was so cloudy she was having problems thinking straight. Mary needed to know what she saw was real, she had to touch her. Mary struggled to sit up in the hospital bed but managed to get into a half sitting position before reaching her arm forward, before her fingers could reach far enough the nurse walked in, blocking her view.

Once the nurse had finished Mary looked around her, her mind was spinning. She was sure she saw her sister but she'd died three years previously. Her mind was in turmoil, was it the medication that made her see that? Was she going mad? Whatever the nurse had injected her with was starting to take effect her eyes were getting heavy. The soft pillows invited her to relax her neck and shoulders and the thought of sleeping felt like a good one. Mary allowed the feeling to wash completely over her and gave into the calling of unconsciousness.

The door to Mary's room opened slightly as Taker checked upon her. He was satisfied that she was settled, sleeping peacefully, he quietly shut the door and went back into the relatives room.

Emily jumped up when she saw him enter and one look at his face confirmed he was mad at her, his emerald green eyes were bright and his jaw was clenched.

"What the hell do you think you were playing at Emily? Do you want to send your sister mad?" His voice rumbled and he opened his mouth to speak again but stopped when a large hand touched his back. Kane nodded towards Emily, who had silent tears coursing down her face. She choked back a few sobs before her disjointed words came out.

"Of course I understand Taker, I just think there are times you forget everyone else. It's MY sister that's been attacked, MY sister laying in that hospital bed and all because of some stupid underworld rules. It's breaking my heart and I only popped in to make sure she was okay, so just lay off me!" Emily shouted the last words before storming out of the room.

"Well done, brother" Taker whipped around to defend himself but Kane had already gone.

Taker took a deep breath and sank into one of the seats, he had to think. They needed to move faster than their enemy who appeared to be wasting no time judging by the smoke that had rendered her unconscious. He had to make contact, she had to trust someone and he would prefer it be him. He just needed some way to get there. He closed his eyes and focused his mind. After a few minutes a smile grew on his face, his eyes shot open and he hurried from the room to the nurses' station.


	4. Chapter 4

"Would you like to meet him?" Mary hesitated and looked at her hands.

"I suppose I should" Mary shifted slightly; she had no idea what to say to him. She looked up as he walked in, her chin dropping slightly at the sight of him as a near 7ft man walked into her small hospital room. His tattoos covered his entire arms, wearing jeans with a leather waistcoat and a bandana which held back his long black hair. The most striking thing about him were his eyes. Mary was drawn into them and she suddenly felt sae, now he was here, nothing would hurt her anymore, not while he was with her. She could stop staring at him and began to bite her lip as her nerves played havoc with her.

"How are you feeling?" Taker took the seat Mary had thought that she had seen her sister in, she shook her head to try and shake the image away.

"I'm okay, thank you. The nurse told me that it was you that phoned the ambulance or me. Thank you for your help, but I'll be fine now." Mary made it quite clear that he should leave, but Taker smiled to himself as he made a point of settling further into the chair. He was planning on ignoring all Mary's attempts to get rid of him.

"My name is Taker and I know you're Mary." His voice was deep and echoed slightly around the small room.

"Please leave." Mary said in a slightly shaky voice, she couldn't even make eye contact.

There was a long pause, just when Mary thought that he was about to leave she almost jumped at the sound of his voice.

"You know, you don't have to pretend with me." He smiled slightly as he saw Mary's head snap around, her glistening blue eyes meeting his emerald green ones.

"W..What do you mean?" Mary tried to continue to stare into his eyes, but had to drop her gaze.

"I mean the act, the attitude, you don't have to pretend with me sweetheart, because...I can see right through it." He smiled softly at her and it was almost her undoing. She could feel the emotion building up, but she wasn't ready to let go, not yet and not in front of this stranger.

She took a few moments to regain some composure, all the while aware that the green eyes were scrutinising her face. When she felt she could trust her voice she spoke again.

"What happened? I mean...what happened at the house? How did you find me?"

"You don't remember anything?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and waited for her to nod before continuing. "I, myself, don't know exactly what happened. I was walking past your house when I heard a scream, I entered your house, the front door being unlocked, and found you unconscious on the kitchen floor." Taker watched the confusion still in Mary's face.

"Yes, but that doesn't explain..." Mary started in barely a whisper as her eyes moved over to Taker, snapping her mouth shut when she realised she'd said those words out loud.

"Doesn't explain what?" Taker asked, certain she was thinking about Emily.

"Oh, nothing." But Mary's eyes didn't quite meet his, she had a feeling he knew she was lying but she really didn't want to go into it, especially with Taker. For some unknown reason she felt she would get a lot more than she bargained for.


	5. Chapter 5

Taker reported back to Kane on the progress he had made. Mary, eventually, had accepted his offer of a ride home from the hospital that afternoon and he'd taken her to a nearby park, to build a little more trust and to try and get her to relax. Mary had started to come out of her shell the more the afternoon went on, he found her funny, witty and knowledgeable. There were so many traits she shared with her sister but she was very different at the same time. He knew his brother and Emily had some form of deep connection and couldn't help but wonder if he had one with Mary. They were sat under the shade of a large oak tree when he decided to broach a dreaded topic.

"What did the doctor say?" Taker glanced at Mary's profile as she watched a couple of leaves caught in the wind.

"Oh, they think it's just stress and that I should take things easy. I have to go back for a check up at my doctors in a week or so." Mary replied.

Taker smiled slightly and nodded, he was glad she didn't remember anything; it would have made everything a lot harder.

He shook his head slightly to regain some focus on how he was going to take things forward. She was beginning to trust him and he knew he had started to knock down some barriers already. He needed to find the balance between moving quickly enough to keep the enemy at bay but not so fast to scare her off.

Finally drawing up outside her home Taker cut the engine. They both walked up to the front door and Mary raised her key to the door, but stopped and pressed the key to Taker who raised an eyebrow at her action.

"I'm sorry, I just have a really bad feeling about this, please can you open the door?"

Taker looked down into the bright blue eyes and nodded; taking the key he unlocked the door and pushed it open.

A large bang rang through the house and Taker grabbed Mary, pulling her back when a large picture of Emily unravelled and blocked the entire doorway. Mary panicked, she couldn't take in what was happening and the last thing she saw before she passed out was her sister's face smiling down on her. Taker caught her as she fell back into his arms. In one swift movement he picked her up and carried her back to his truck, placed her in the passenger seat, went back to lock the house and then climbed into the driving seat and looked down on the unconscious Mary before starting the engine and saying out loud. "It appears things are moving faster than we thought, I'm taking you home sweetheart." And wheel spun the truck as he took her back to the beginning.


	6. Chapter 6

Kane came out to meet his brother's car driving towards the house. He had felt something had gone wrong and as the car came to a stop he saw the unconscious form of Mary in the passenger seat.

Taker jumped out of the car and ran around the passenger side. He glanced up at Kane as he got Mary out of the car.

"I'll explain later, we need to get her settled before she comes around." Kane merely nodded and held the doors open for Taker as he carried Mary into the living room and placed her gently on the settee.

Emily walked into the room and stopped dead in her tracks. Realising her sister was unconscious on the settee she ran forward, kneeling beside her.

"What happened?" She asked the brothers without taking her eyes of her sister, her face full of concern. Taker took a deep breath and explained what happened. Emily's eyes grew wide as she listened.

"Well, what do we do now?" Emily asked, fighting back the tears, she was finally with her sister and she really didn't want to let go.

Taker looked over to his brother who nodded in consent.

"We move the whole six week plan to around 6 minutes, however Emily, you mustn't be here when she wakes, I need to explain things a bit first."

Emily nodded but couldn't keep the smile off her face; she had finally got her sister back with her. At that moment, Mary began to stir.

"Both of you go quickly" Taker whispered in a menacing tone, but no offence was taken as they ran out of the room into the kitchen while Taker perched himself on the edge of the settee and took Mary's hand in his.

"Where am I?" Mary slowly looked around an unfamiliar room, taking in the deep red wallpaper and mahogany panelling.

"You're at my house" Taker stated causing Mary to look at him...her mental fog was beginning to clear.

"There was a picture...back at the house, it was my sister but she's been dead three years. I don't understand why anyone would do that to me, I miss her so much, and I'm on my own now. I even thought I saw her in the hospital...I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I thought you would think I was losing my mind." Mary's voice trailed off as she bit her lip, waiting for his response.

Taker smiled slightly and leant down to whisper in her ear.

"You're not going mad sweetheart, I have someone here who would like to see you." Taker straightened up and motioned towards the door, and there stood Emily...

* * *

**_Just a quick note to thank you for the reviews, it means a lot and helps me with my confidence to keep posting this as it's been written years._**

**_Take care out there,_**

**_Dragon x_**


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